


Four Times Lenore McCoy Acted As Ship's Counselor (and the one time she needed one)

by Telesilla



Series: I'm a Doctor, Not Your Mother [3]
Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-18
Updated: 2011-02-18
Packaged: 2017-10-15 18:11:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/163507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telesilla/pseuds/Telesilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is kind of the forgotten fic. I wrote it sometime last year and then sent it to Helens78 while she was in the middle of a Big Bang.  I told her not to worry about getting it back to me and then it got lost in the shuffle of multiple Big Bangs and both of us beta reading for each other. Then, after she finally had time for it, it sat in google docs until I ran across it during the WIP meme. I want to post it now so I qualify for Star Trek '09 when Remix time rolls around. So yes, thank you to Helens78 for the beta! :) And as always, Lena Heady is my Lenore.</p></blockquote>





	Four Times Lenore McCoy Acted As Ship's Counselor (and the one time she needed one)

**One -- Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott**

"The Captain tells me you've got the good stuff."

They were still in space dock; the only reason Lenore was in Sick Bay was that one of the bio beds had been acting funny ever since it was put in and she wanted to be there to supervise the technician fixing it. The technician clearly wanted Lenore to be somewhere else, preferably in another quadrant of the galaxy; he looked relieved when Scott came into Sickbay.

"Excuse me?"

"Captain Kirk said you usually have...." Scott made a gesture and Lenore got it.

"Yeah," she said, leading him toward her office. She was still a little intimidated by it, but at least it wasn't Dr. Puri's quarters, which she'd also inherited.

"Bourbon?" she asked, waving Scott into a chair. "Or is that one of those 'close but not close enough' things?"

"I'm sure my ancestors would be rolling in their graves, but really, bourbon's fine."

She poured them each a couple fingers and then settled back into her chair. Either Scott was a drunk, which she really doubted, or he needed a friendly ear. Not only was providing one part of her job, but even if it wasn't, he was third in command of the ship, after Jim and whoever they were going to get as First Officer; she really should get to know him.

"So, how's the refit going?"

"Not bad," he said. "They're giving me the best of everything and every technician in Starfleet wants to work on the ship. We started replacing the cores this morning and...."

She lost track pretty quickly--engineering was hardly her strong point--but it didn't matter. All she needed to do is nod in the right places and ask the occasional open-ended question; eventually they'd get to whatever was really bothering him.

Finally, halfway through their second glass of bourbon, he slowed down and then went silent.

"Too bloody busy," he said after a sip. "Too many people."

"How long were you on Delta Vega?"

"Six months, which, if you ask me, was way out of line. It was just a dog, for fuck's sake."

"Yeah," Lenore said. "But you know how it is; Archer's the patron saint of Starfleet."

"True enough."

They drank in silence for several minutes and then he sighed. "You know anything about transwarp beaming?"

"Only that it'd never been done, but you figured it out." She didn't say that just the thought gave her the willies, that, as much as she wasn't wild about shuttles, she'd take them over any kind of transporter any day.

"Only I didn't."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I'm getting credit for it, but it wasn't me. Well, but it was, only it was another me."

"From the same universe Ambassador Spock came from?"

"Right. Everyone thinks I'm a bloody genius and, well I am, of course, but...it's not the same." He slammed back the rest of his drink. "And now, miracles will be expected."

"It wasn't some other Mr. Scott that got us away from that singularity. And it wasn't Ambassador Spock, either."

"Oh that. That was just...cleverness. Not complicated physics."

"If you want to be doing complicated physics, why aren't you teaching and doing research at the Academy? Or some prestigious university?" He didn't reply and she shook her head. "You think Jim asked you to stay on because some alternate you came up with transwarp beaming?"

"Well...."

"Bullshit. He asked you to stay because when he needed you to come up with more, you did."

He ducked his head a little, looking down at his glass.

"Thank you for that, by the way." When he glanced back up at her, she smiled. "We're sitting here because you were clever."

Before he can say anything, she reached down into the bottom drawer of her desk. "You ever had Saurian Brandy?"

"Once."

"Let's make it twice."

"Thanks, Doctor."

"Bones," she said, pushing a glass across the desk. "Jim calls me 'Bones' and you might as well too."

 **Two -- Lieutenant Nyota Uhura**

Unlike some people, like, say, Jim, Uhura showed up promptly for her first routine physical. She was polite and answered all of Lenore's questions completely and carefully. They were only half way through the physical and already Lenore had a feeling Uhura was going to be one of her favorite patients.

"All right then," Lenore said, reaching for the gyn scanner. "Let's just take a look at your reproductive system...." She scanned and made notes in her PADD and then scanned some more. "Looks like everything is in good working order. You haven't had any reactions to the standard birth control implant, right?"

"No. But...."

Lenore put the scanner and her PADD down. "But?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm trying to decide if...if maybe I should ask you to remove it."

It took Lenore a moment and then she got it, but she still kept her face professionally blank. "May I ask why?"

"In case Spock wants...." Uhura trailed off when Lenore frowned at her.

"Do you want kids?" Before Uhura could answer, Lenore held up a hand. "Do _you_ want kids?"

"I've always assumed that some day I would."

"That's not an answer."

"He lost his mother," Uhura said. "His whole planet vanished and there are so few Vulcans left."

"That's still not an answer, but let me ask you the next question--has Spock said he wants kids?"

"I want to give him that option."

"Well then give it to him. Talk it through and then come back and we'll talk about pulling your implant."

"I...."

Lenore ran a hand through her hair; maybe Uhura wasn't going to be her favorite patient after all. "Look, why don't you tell me what's really going on in your head."

"Can I even have his children? Or would he be better off with some Vulcan woman?"

"Spock's living proof that a Human and a Vulcan can produce viable offspring," Lenore said. "I'd have to do a little more research, or try to hook you up with someone who's a little more knowledgeable, but off hand, I'd say, yeah, you could."

Uhura nodded but doesn't say anything.

"I can't answer your second question and even if I could, I wouldn't." Uhura's lips flattened out into a tight line. "Look," Lenore said a little more gently. "Like I said, I can do all kinds of research on the physical side of it, but the only people who can make the decision are you and Spock."

"I know," Uhura finally said. "I'm just afraid...."

"How long did it take you two to get together?"

"Oh God, almost a year."

"And I'm thinking that it wasn't easy for either of you?"

Uhura snorted, just a little. "Cultural differences like you wouldn't believe, Doctor."

"You think he'd have done that, learned what he needed to know to be with you, put up with those cultural differences, if he was just gonna dump you when the going got tough?"

"This is pretty tough going."

"Yeah," Lenore said, "it is. But tell me, if he's the type to leave you for some Vulcan woman who will have Vulcan babies with him, then why hasn't he? Why'd he come back to Starfleet and, more specifically, the _Enterprise_ when he could have gone off with his father, his older self and the rest of the Vulcans to help found that colony of theirs?"

"He didn't say," Uhura said, but she smiled a little as she said it.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't look like the type who would say, but that doesn't mean you can't ask." Lenore shook her head. "Frankly, I don't know what the hell you see in him, but it's pretty obvious you love him and, weird as it is to say this about a Vulcan, it's equally obvious that he loves you."

"Is it?"

"Yeah," Lenore said softly. "It really is.

"So here's the deal, Lieutenant, you talk to that boyfriend of yours and if you both want kids right now, you come to me and I'll do what I can to see that you have them."

"Okay." Uhura paused and then looked right at Lenore. "You know, regulations say that if I tell you to take out the implant, then you have to take it out."

"Yeah, and when you actually _tell_ me to do it, I will." She waited but Uhura just chuckled. "Okay then," Lenore said, picking up her PADD. "Let's check your inoculations record...."

 **Three -- Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu**

"Doc," Sulu said as Lenore ran the dermal regenerator over his arm. "I've got a problem."

"Clearly," she said. "And I'm getting damn tired of patching you up. What the hell made you decide to teach Jim how to fence?"

"He asked me to?"

"Ya know, I dunno why I even bother...." She gave him a stern look. "Next time, I'm just going to get out the gauze and tape. Or a needle and thread."

"Uh huh." Clearly she needed to work on the look because he didn't look phased at all.

"Okay, what's the problem?"

"It's...um...Pavel. Ensign Chekov."

"Oh?" She asked even as she bit the inside of her mouth in an attempt not to laugh.

"Yeah, he's got this huge crush on me and it's weird. He's younger than my brother."

"Oh yeah, that must be really strange for you." Lenore made a big production number of checking her PADD. "At your advanced age of...what is it? Twenty-one?"

"C'mon, Doc, help me out here. He's a great guy but I don't like him that way."

"Okay, so what exactly do you want _me_ to do about it?"

"I dunno...talk to him, maybe?"

"Wow, that's a really good idea." Lenore folded her arms across her chest. "I assume you've already done that? Talked to him, I mean?"

"Um...er...well...."

"Look kid, I'm a doctor, not your mom or your big sister."

"I just don't want to hurt his feelings."

"So you want someone else to do it? Because it's either that or a pity fuck." Looking offended, Sulu opened his mouth, but Lenore continued before he could get any words out. "Yeah, yeah, you're an officer and a gentleman, so obviously you're not gonna go there."

"But...."

"It's not going to be easy, but be nice about it and give him the truth and not some bullshit. Remember, he's a Starfleet officer just like you; he may mope for a few days, but he's not going to die of a broken heart."

"Have you ever...?"

"Had an inappropriate crush? Been the subject of one? Yes and yes. I handled both really badly, and there's no reason for either of you to go on a two week bender or get married. So yeah, this is very much a do as I say, don't do as I did kind of thing."

There was a moment of silence and then Sulu looked down at his arm. "I guess you're done?"

"Yeah." She stepped back to let him hop off the bio bed and then, as he turned to leave, she said, "Lieutenant?"

"Yes?"

"He's a good kid and he's probably looking for a friend as much as a lover. Give him some time after you talk and then try hanging out with him."

"Okay," he said. "Thanks, Doc."

"Goddamn, I feel like I'm ninety fucking years old," she muttered, once the door closed behind him.

 **Four -- Lieutenant Gaila**

Gaila showed up promptly for her appointment, sat down in the chair across from Lenore's desk and waited attentively.

Lenore looked up from Gaila's file and sighed. "You know why you're here, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"To be honest," Lenore said, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I've looked at your file and I have absolutely no idea what to say to you, how to counsel you."

"Why not?" Gaila asked, her brow wrinkled just a little.

"Because for Uhura, or Chekov, or hell, probably me, what you lived through on the _Farragut_ would have been the most traumatic thing that ever happened to us."

"You're saying it wasn't traumatic?"

Opening her mouth to protest, Lenore paused. "I don't know," she said. "You tell me."

"You know something?" Gaila settled into the chair, looking much more relaxed. "None of my counselors have ever asked me that."

"Great. They probably knew what the hell they were doing."

"You're a doctor," Gaila said and Lenore snorted.

"And not a therapist," she said, almost automatically.

"It was hard," Gaila began after another silence. "We lost auxiliary power twice; I'd just restored it the first time when the _Enterprise_ hit us."

"Sorry about that."

"You weren't piloting." Gaila shrugged.

"God no. I'd have probably crashed right into you." Lenore leaned back. "Anyway...."

"I restored power a second time and then all we could do was wait."

Lenore remembered the tunnels of New Berlin after the earthquake--the darkness and the closeness and the fear that the air would give out. "Did you have sensors or scanners?"

"I managed to rig limited sensors, but we didn't have visual. We could track Nero's ship, and of course, the singularity registered even on my make-shift sensors. I was sure we were going to get sucked in."

She went silent and looked off into the distance. "It was hard," she said again. "And I hated that people died, that we couldn't keep all of the injured alive. I have nightmares about it, about being the last one to die."

"Bad enough to keep you from sleeping?"

"No, just...." Gaila frowned a little. "What's the phrase, run of the...something?"

"Mill," Lenore said. "Run of the mill. And no, I have no idea what the hell it really means. Ask Uhura."

Nodding, Gaila played with the hem of her skirt. "None of my nightmares keep me from sleeping. Sleep is too precious." She paused and then continued.

"No. No, it wasn't."

"What?"

"It was difficult and scary, and I wish I could have done more, but it wasn't traumatic." Gaila's chin went up and she squared her shoulders. "I had a job, something I was trained to do, and I did it."

"Damn right you did," Lenore said. The kid had managed to save forty-five people's lives while trapped in half the saucer section of a dead ship; she deserved the medal, the promotion and all the praise she'd received. "And then some." There was another moment or two of silence.

"Actually, this probably a good place to stop," Lenore finally said, when it became clear Gaila was done talking. "I trust you to tell me if your nightmares, any of them, start interfering with your sleep. There are some other symptoms I want you to be on the look out for...."

"Panic or anxiety attacks, flashbacks, dissociative episodes...I know the list by heart, Doctor."

"Yeah, I'll bet you do." Lenore looked down at Gaila's file again. "Frankly, I think you might be one of the sanest people on this ship."

"Really?"

"Oh hell yeah. I'll still want to see you, maybe every two or three weeks, unless you need to see me sooner."

"Okay." Gaila stood up and headed for the door, and then paused, turning back to smile at Lenore. "Thank you, Doctor." Lenore's confusion must have shown on her face. "For knowing the difference between sympathy and pity."

"Yeah, well, I kind of hate pity too."

 **And the One Time -- Ambassador Spock**

Lenore didn't go out of her way to try to meet Ambassador Spock when they visited the as yet unnamed Vulcan colony six months into their mission. In fact, she went out of her way to _not_ meet him. She told herself that she was too busy working with the Vulcan physicians and healers, helping them figure out their long term medical needs, but she knew it was more than that.

Jim seemed to think of the Ambassador as some kind of oracle, and even Spock--their Spock, and yes, Lenore was damn tired of the confusion about the names--paid particular attention to his counter-part.

"Aren't you at all curious?" Jim asked one morning as Lenore met him in one of the colony's communal dining halls.

"No," Lenore said, sipping some kind of spicy tea as she desperately wished for coffee. "Because it doesn't matter what some other me did in some other universe." She looked up and frowned. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Thought it didn't matter."

"Yeah, fuck you too, Jim."

And, probably because the universe hated her, that was the moment that Ambassador Spock sat down across from her. "Jim," he said. "Doctor."

"Okay, gotta run," Jim said, clapping Lenore on the shoulder as he stood up. "See ya, Bones."

Lenore considered flipping him off, but they were senior Starfleet officers and not cadets anymore, so she just settled for muttering something rude under her breath before turning to Spock.

"You have been avoiding me, Doctor."

"Yeah," she said. "I have."

"May I inquire as to why?"

She thought about repeating what she'd said to Jim but then she paused. "Cowardice," she said shortly.

"I find that very hard to believe. Lenore McCoy was one of the bravest...."

"I don't want to hear about her," Lenore said, not even caring that she interrupted him. "I'm not her any more than Jim is your old friend or Spock is you. It's hard enough...."

She bit back the rest of her words and took a sip of tea.

"I apologize, Doctor," Spock said, sounding almost sad.

"Don't bother," she finally said. "It's my fault; Mama always said I was too rude."

"I am not sure it is rude to say what is on your mind."

"Yeah, well...you might want to tell that to him." She glanced over to where the younger Spock sat with Uhura and Jim. "We didn't exactly get off to a friendly start."

"That does not surprise me in the least."

Oddly enough, the silence that followed as they both paid attention to their breakfasts wasn't all that awkward. As much as Lenore liked Jim, he wasn't any good at comfortable silences; it was nice to sit with someone who didn't feel the need to chatter.

Finally, after a second cup of tea and two rolls spread with a soft, sharp cheese, Lenore pushed her plate aside. "It's almost too tempting," she said.

"Yes, I can see that."

"See that's it, right there; you knew what I meant."

"It was more from my familiarity with Humans in general than any specific knowledge of the Lenore McCoy who was my friend." Spock said.

"That's not playing fair."

"Indeed."

Lenore sighed. "Fine, I give in. You were friends?"

"Very much so." Spock paused. "Although not at first."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Lenore muttered.

"She did not appreciate my dedication to logic and I, in turn, found her to be far too emotional."

"Huh. That's funny."

"How so, Doctor?"

"I'm sure I'm far too emotional for a Vulcan's taste, but after Spock damn near killed Jim, I think I've got a pretty good idea why you people work so hard to suppress your emotions." She paused and then pointed her spoon at the other Spock. "I still think he needs to lighten up, but I can understand why he doesn't want to. And of course, I'm pretty sure Uhura won't put up with too much emotional reticence."

"True. That relationship changes many things."

"You weren't...?"

He glanced over at Uhura, who was sitting with several Vulcan children, and then turned back to Lenore. "My own form of cowardice. I am...pleased to see my younger self is a braver man than I ever was."

After another moment of silence, Lenore took a deep breath. "Did it ever get any easier for her? That other me?" She gestured almost helplessly. "Losing people...patching you and Jim and everyone else up again and again?"

Spock tilted his head a little and it was strange to realize how familiar the gesture was. Was she already that aware of Spock's body language?

"No," he finally said. "I do not believe it ever did." He paused a moment and then added, "but I know she thought it was worth it."

"You know?"

He smiled, just a little, and that was completely unfamiliar. "I know," he said, tapping his forehead.

"Oh," she said, softly, remembering what she'd read about Vulcan mind melds. "I...thank you."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to the captain."

She stared after him for a long while.

"Credit for your thoughts." Gaila sat down next to her. "That's the right phrase?"

"That or 'penny.'" When Gaila looked puzzled, Lenore said, "'penny for your thoughts.' And no, I have no idea. Ask...."

"Uhura."

"Yeah."

"You got out of telling me what you were thinking."

"Oh, this and that...." Oddly enough, it was the Ambassador's regret over Uhura that was uppermost in her mind.

"Gaila," Lenore said after a moment. "What do you do for fun?"

"Read, mostly fiction and engineering journals. Play poker and Deltan dice. Fuck."

Lenore felt her cheeks go hot. "Um...you wanna teach me how to play Deltan dice?"

Gaila smiled. "Yeah. I think that'd be fun."

 _-end-_

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of the forgotten fic. I wrote it sometime last year and then sent it to Helens78 while she was in the middle of a Big Bang. I told her not to worry about getting it back to me and then it got lost in the shuffle of multiple Big Bangs and both of us beta reading for each other. Then, after she finally had time for it, it sat in google docs until I ran across it during the WIP meme. I want to post it now so I qualify for Star Trek '09 when Remix time rolls around. So yes, thank you to Helens78 for the beta! :) And as always, Lena Heady is my Lenore.


End file.
